User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Hump
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: February 2, 2008

Bottom Line:

This amp. is incredible at any price. Cosidering what I paid for it makes it the most incredible amp. I have ever owned.
Have had no problems with Humm orBuzzing as in other reviews. Makes my Thiel 2.2s "Sing".
If you get a chance buy one, you won't be disappointed !!

I picked up a HCA-2200 II from ebay a few years ago. I also had the same problem with a 60 cycle hum which came out of one channel only. I decided to explore the problem internally after trying the ungrounded plug adaptor trick which only minimized the hum slightly. What I found was that almost every screw either internally but especially externally in the case was loose. They were loose enough that you could turn them by hand. So, I checked each fastener and tightened down every loose one. That one thing eliminated the hum completely. I could only guess that the problem was from a floating ground condition. I can only surmise that the fasteners were not torqued down to a reasonable amount during assembly at the factory and over the years they continued to back out by themselves due to vibration.

Bought used off of AudioGon about 2 years ago. What an incredible amp, smooth transitions, great bass and defined mid-range. It runs in pure class A right up to 7 watts, then switches to A/B configuration. So, if you are running some very efficient speakers like I am (Paradigm studio 100 V3) through an older Classe SSP-25 pre-amp, the sound is just amazing. Effortless, would be a good word for the Parasound HCA-2200 MK II. I paid almost $900 for mine, but lately have seen them as low as $600 on EBay. I could not imagine more amp for this price? If your budget conscious but don’t want to scrimp on your sound, this is it!!

I am reviewing a late model Parasound 2200 stereo amplifier that I acquired about 7-8 years ago. I was told by Bob of The Cable Company that this late production amplifier was improved and similar to the then new 2200II version. At the time I owned a Carver Silver 7t amplifier and I also obtained an Adcom 555II stereo power amplifier for comparison purposes. I used them to power my Carver Platinum MkIV Speakers. I was dissatisfied with the performance of the Carver Silver 7t amp which had a peak in the lower treble at about 3kHZ as did my speakers. This resulted in bright lower treble. The 2ohm output impedence of the Silver 7t was probably the main culprit. I tried an Adcom 555II amp but it provided a fairly grainy performance. The Parasound gave the best performance and seemed to combine the smoothness of the Carver with the gutsy fuller sound of the Adcom. I later tried a Rotel 200 watt stereo amp (not the current version) that proved quicker than the Parasound. One other amp that I used later and impressed me greatly was a Krell FPB 200. By this time I had upgraded to an outboard crossover and was biamping the 2 way Carver speakers and used the Krell only on the ribbon with a noticable improvement in speed, resolution, clarity and dynamics. I like my Parasound 2200 amps and did not find that they exhibited some of the negative characteristics attributed to them in a Stereophile review that had appeared the previous year. These were late model closeout specials and I was told that these problems had been ameliorated in later production.

Are you kidding me? This thing is built like a freakin tank - and it is effortless where other amps have crapped out.

Play VH "Women In Love" intro as loud as you can stand. I guarantee that last high harmonic will freakin fuzz out on you - it has on every amp I've had before. This is how I test my volume limits.

Well on the HCA2200II that last note just rings like a chime! That's enough for me, but wait... there's more.

The finger snapping and cork popping stuff on Diana Krall.... exquisite. Turn on Patricia Barber and start doing something else.., and you will be sucked in, like she's beckoning from the lounge next door. I don't think this amp does a single thing wrong.

UFO Strangers in the Night is recorded at kind of a low volumn, and I've never had enough amp to play it skullcrushing loud without clipping. Now I do! Very NICE!

Bass fills and drum rolls that were lost with other amps - well these are easy to make out with this amplifier. Really makes all my previous amps seem like "starter" gear.

This thing is a great combination of balls and finesse. I like to upgrade more than the next guy probably,,, but I struggle to define why I would try to get "more amp" or "better amp" than this beast! A beauty!

Right now I'm running two of them. One for Left + Center, and another for Right. Not bridged, but in kind of a mono configuration for music. I feel like an ugly american glutton! But my system can rock like a mother now!

Some people think JC is just a nut nowadays posting on AA and getting mad at newbies and stuff. Maybe so, but he designed this amp before he "lost it" I guess - when he was in his designing prime. It is a big badass and I can't say enough good about it.